


Clearing The Air

by SpencerRemyLvr



Series: The College AU Verse [2]
Category: Criminal Minds, Leverage
Genre: Awkward Spencer, Fatherly Aaron, Friendship, Light Angst, Making Friends, Multi, Nervous Alec, Protective Aaron, everyone's getting along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-05
Updated: 2015-10-05
Packaged: 2018-04-24 21:56:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4936795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpencerRemyLvr/pseuds/SpencerRemyLvr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spencer has a talk with Aaron and then clears the air with Alec</p>
            </blockquote>





	Clearing The Air

It didn’t take Spencer long to find the campus library. Nor did it take him long to start making use of it. Libraries had always been a bit of a refuge to him and it was no different here. When school started, he simply had a more valid reason to be there. Often, he spent as long there as he could before finally heading home for the night. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be home; there was nothing wrong with his apartment or his roommate. After that initial warning by Alec’s boyfriend, there hadn’t been any sort of trouble. Spencer just, preferred the company of books over people. Books were safer. They were much easier to deal with.

They became his refuge a bit during his first week of school. Being here before classes had started had been easy. He hadn’t been required to go and actually see anyone. But now that classes were going, that meant that he once more had to deal with campus life. Deal with teachers who were surprised to not only see a seventeen year old in their classes but one that already had the title of ‘Doctor’ in front of his name. Deal with students who ignored him—his personal preference, really—or who felt the need to sneer or mock him because he was smart.

Spencer talked some of it over with Aaron during that first frustrating week. Whereas Derek was Spencer's best friend, someone he could always talk to, Aaron was like a father-slash-uncle and as such, he was the one who Spencer tended to go to with certain things. How to deal with people was one of those things. Derek was more likely to demand to know who was hurting Spencer so that he could go hurt them or threaten them into behaving. Aaron was more likely to help talk to Spencer, reassure him, and help him find ways of coping.

He called up Aaron the one afternoon as he sat waiting for the bus to arrive that would take him closest to the library. There was no one else there at the stop, so he felt safe enough to have a conversation without being overheard.

As usual, Aaron answered before the third ring with an almost curt sounding “ _Hotchner_ ”

“Hey, Hotch.” Spencer smiled a little to himself as he settled down on the bench seat.

He swore he could almost feel the smile that came down the line. “ _Reid. I’ve been wondering when you’d call. Morgan’s been going almost out of his mind waiting to hear from you._ ”

A low laugh bubbled up Spencer's throat. It colored his words, making them more relaxed, a little easier. “I call him the night before last and I’ve text you both since then.”

“ _You know Morgan. If he thought it’d work, he’d enforce a daily check in call_.”

“Of course he would.” The paranoid goofball. Bless him for it. Spencer appreciated the sentiment of it. Even if it wasn’t something he’d do, the thought that Derek cared that much was still enough to make him feel a little warmer inside.

Aaron gave one of those low, easy laughs of his, the kind that only his friends got to hear. “ _You’ve been gone a whole month. I think he’s restrained himself rather well in that time. He hasn’t even driven back out there once to check on you._ ”

“I don’t need checked on. I’m doing okay, Hotch, I really am.”

“ _I’m sure you are._ ” Aaron said dryly. “ _Okay enough that you’re calling me at two-oh-three on a Thursday afternoon from what I’m guessing by the sounds would be a bus stop. Knowing you, you’re fresh from class and on your way to the library, where you’re probably going to do the studying that you could do at home, in your own room, if you weren’t so busy hiding out from your roommate._ ”

That was another reason that Spencer called Aaron when he had certain problems. More often than not, Derek’s careful prodding, his skilled way of questioning Spencer, was a great way to go. He could pull things out of him that no one else could. But Aaron had this way of sort of cutting straight through all the BS and the silly excuses and fronts that Spencer would put up and going right down to the center of it. Even when there was nothing that really should’ve clued him in as to what the problem was. He was just that good. He was also rarely ever wrong.

He wasn’t wrong this time. Spencer flushed a little and ducked his head down until his hair slid into his face and made a curtain between him and the world. “Hotch…”

“ _What? You think I don’t recognize your tactics by now, Dr. Reid?_ ” He let out another of those low laughs of his. “ _You employed them often enough against me. I think I’m the most qualified to recognize them now. Reid… you can’t avoid the man forever. He sounds like he’d be someone you could get along with if you’d just let yourself._ ”

“I don’t want to make friends here, Hotch.” Spencer repeated the same thing he’d said countless times before. “I have you and Morgan – who else do I need?”

“ _You need someone that can be_ there _. Not hours away like we are. And you need to have a home you can feel safe going to. Not one that you’re afraid to step foot inside of._ ”

Spencer sighed and wiped a hand over his face. “I’m trying.”

“ _Are you_?” Aaron countered. “ _Or are you just letting your fears make assumptions for you?_ ”

That hit a little too close to home and Spencer sucked in a sharp breath. He was saved from having to answer by the bus pulling up. The phone stayed quiet as Spencer gathered his bags and got onto the bus, showing his pass before going to find a seat. Only when he was settled in to the back corner, tucked as far away from others as possible while still close to the exit, did he finally speak again. “I’m trying not to, Hotch. I’m friendly with him, I’m never rude. We’ve got our own rules for each other and I’ve been respectful. I just…”

“… _you just have troubles with trust. And I get that, Reid, I do. But has he done anything to cause you to worry? Has anyone there?_ ”

“No. Nothing beyond the usual, I mean.”

“ _Yes, well, it’s like Morgan and I told you here – there are always going to be kids intimidated by your intelligence. Ignore them. They aren’t worth your time. Is that an issue with your roommate? Does he have a problem with your intelligence?_ ”

“No, no.” Spencer hurried to reassure him. “Far from it. He actually seemed really interested in the degrees I’ve already earned and what I’m doing now.”

“ _Then what’s the problem?_ ”

Setting back in his seat, Spencer blew out a breath and pushed his hair back from his face. He glanced around at the few people on the bus and lowered his voice just a little more to make sure that none of them heard him. “His…his boyfriend knows.” He blurted the words out quickly, the one thing he hadn’t told his friends yet. He couldn’t keep it back now. “I don’t know how, and I don’t know how much, but he knows about my past.”

The line went quiet for a moment and Spencer could just picture Aaron sitting up straighter. He could see in his mind’s eye the way the man would be on full alert. Spine straight, shoulders back, and that intense, hawk-like stare that could intimidate so many. “ _What happened?_ ”

In brief words, Spencer recounted the moment with Eliot at his bedroom door. By the time he was done the tension was so thick he swore he could feel it down the phone line. Then, “ _I’m coming up there._ ”

“No, Hotch!” Spencer cried out. Immediately he flushed as the other riders on the bus turned to look at him. Cheeks flaming, he lowered his voice, trying not to draw any more attention to himself. “No. You don’t need to come up here to threaten my roommate’s boyfriend. I can handle it.”

“ _By hiding out at the library all the time?_ ”

“Better than you coming up here threatening him.”

The bus reached its stop and Spencer rose, slipping out the door at the back. He adjusted his bag and got a better grip on his phone as he started down the half block distance to the library. “Listen, Hotch, it’s not that big a deal. Since that incident, nothing’s happened. Maybe I’m just overreacting about it. Maybe Hardison doesn’t know or doesn’t care. Either way, he’s not threatening me, not treating me badly or anything like that. He just does his thing and I do mine. It all works out.” Pausing, the young genius smiled a little even though he knew his friend couldn’t see it. “Not every roommate is going to be like you. Some just live in a peaceful coexistence and that’s all that matters.”

He heard Aaron sigh. “ _I suppose._ ”

By the time Spencer hung up with his friend, he’d reached the front steps of the library. He had to smile a little as he shook his head and silenced his phone. No matter how far away he moved, it looked like some things would never change. Aaron’s protectiveness was one of those. Even hours away he was still ready to come to Spencer's defense. It was both touching and just a bit reassuring.

A little more relaxed than before, he finally made his way inside the library.

* * *

Spencer put the conversation with Aaron out of his mind. He’d resolved himself to just continuing on the way that he was and living in a quiet sort of existence with his roommate. Call it cowardice, but he didn’t really want to know what Eliot had told his boyfriend, nor did he want to risk doing anything that might piss off the only person in these parts that knew the history Spencer was fighting so hard to keep in the past. If that meant avoiding his roommate, so be it. Spencer had a lot of experience at tiptoeing around other people and making himself sort of invisible.

Apparently, the world didn’t agree with his plans, however.

That night after he’d gotten back from the library, he was curled up in bed with a book to do some simple pleasure reading when there came a knock on his door. He pulled his headphones out and looked up, calling out “Come in” in a voice that held just a hint of caution to it.

The door was pushed open and sure enough, it was his roommate there, only the man didn’t actually come in. He just hovered there in the open doorway.

One of the first things that Spencer noticed was that Alec looked almost as nervous as Spencer felt. He quickly found out why. Alec reached up and rubbed a hand over the back of his neck before he seemed to gather the courage to say what it was he came in here to say. “So, I just found out that my boyfriend did the whole creepy, stalker bullshit again and potentially scared the ever-loving hell outta you.” He blurted out. At Spencer's stunned looked, he shrugged nervously. “It’s not the first time he’s done it.”

“Really?” That was all Spencer could seem to say. He couldn’t really find the words for much more right now. This hadn’t at all been what he’d been expecting.”

“Yeah.” Alec let out a sigh that sounded part frustrated and part resigned. Then he shook his head and fixed Spencer with a serious stare. “Look, whatever he dug up on you, whatever he found out, he hasn’t told me and I made sure to tell him I don’t wanna know. Your business is your own business. We all got skeletons in our closets, man. I don’t need to know what yours are. You’re a good roommate, you’re quiet, nice, a bit shy but considering Eliot I can completely understand that. I just, I wanted to make sure that you knew that I don’t give a damn about whatever he found and to just make sure you know we’re cool.”

Spencer couldn’t seem to say anything at first. He just sat there and stared over at his roommate. Was Alec serious? Did he really…was he really serious with this? No one was that laid back. No one was that relaxed about these kinds of things. Spencer had a hard time believing that Eliot hadn’t told Alec what he’d found out, or that Alec hadn’t demanded to know. Being curious was just human nature. Yet, if he knew, would he really stand here and act so casual about things? So normal?

He didn’t realize that he’d been sitting there staring until Alec cleared his throat. The sound snapped Spencer out of his thoughts and he actually jumped. Embarrassment flooded his cheeks when he realized that he’d just been sitting there staring like an idiot. “I’m so sorry.” He blurted out, cheeks flaming. “I, ah, I just…is this a joke?”

The smile that curved Alec’s lips wasn’t mocking; it carried a whole lot of understanding to it. “No, man.”

Just two words. Plain, simple, no qualifiers to it. Spencer found himself actually believing him. There was just something about him, something open and almost innocent in his face. He had the look of someone who’d seen some things and yet still managed to hold on to a sense of their innocence. Could he really blame Eliot for wanting to preserve that? Some of the tension melted out of Spencer and the smile that came to his lips was still shy but it was much more honest than any one he’d given so far. “Thank you.”

“Anytime.” Alec said, his own smile growing. “So, we cool?”

“Yeah, we’re cool.” Spencer said back.

He was still smiling when Alec left and the door shut behind him.

Huh. Maybe things weren’t as bad as he thought they would be here.


End file.
